How long does it take to get a passport? Waiting times have just dropped again

Waiting for a passport can be stressful, but that wait has now become a little shorter.

Processing times decreased Thursday, according to the U.S. Department of State. Travelers can now expect the scheduled service to last four to six weeks, instead of six to eight weeks. However, estimates for expedited service – which carries a $60 fee – remain the same for between two and three weeks.

These windows do not include mailing times. “It may take up to two weeks for your application to reach us, and two weeks for you to receive your passport after we send it by post,” the State Department said on its website.

Passport wait times fell earlier in December to their lowest level since March 2020, before the COVID-19 pandemic. Wait times have skyrocketed during the public health crisis, but the government has worked to reduce them in the years since.

The State Department said in an update last fall that it was “aggressively recruiting and hiring at our passport agencies and centers” to meet demand for international travel.

The lower processing times come after online passport renewal became available nationwide last month, following beta testing of the service. However, travelers must meet certain criteria to use it, including being 25 years or older, being able to upload a digital photo and paying the renewal fee online with a debit or credit card.

Nathan Diller is a consumer travel reporter for USA TODAY based in Nashville. You can reach him at [email protected].